1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system (and method) for controlling access to areas in one or more buildings, and particularly to an access control system which automatically downloads information from an external database to a central database, and automatically distributes security information from the central database affecting access to the different parts of the system making access decisions. This invention is especially suitable for automatically downloading employee and/or badge information from an external database maintained by a human resource department of a company which can affect an employee""s access to areas of a building.
2. Background of the Invention
Conventional access control systems provide security to areas of a building by utilizing readers associated with locking mechanisms to doors which control entry to such areas. Persons, such as employees, are provided with security badges having data accessible by the reader. Access decisions are made in accordance with security information stored at a central database in response to badge data read from the readers with or without a keypad entered pin number, or access decisions may be made by other databases associated with the readers. Examples of prior access control systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,839,640, and 4,218,690.
Separate from each access control system is an external database storing information on employees and/or badges used by such employees. Often such an external database is maintained by the human resources or personnel department of a company, which can modify or create employee information used for badges. Periodically, usually at the end of each work day, a computer program is executed which generates an import file of batched transaction data from the external database having changes in employee information from the past day. Once generated, the import file is manually downloaded into the access control system which accordingly updates the security information stored in its central database. An operator may then manually direct the access control system to update any other databases in the system which can make access decisions.
During the delay between the time the external database is updated and the update of the access control system, an employee is able to use their badge to gain access to areas of a building, even through the employee may have been reassigned or terminated as recorded in the external database. This can lead to unauthorized access to areas, thereby compromising building security. However, to provide more frequent updates of the access control system, such as every few minutes, would be cumbersome and time-consuming since it would require generating multiple import files from the external database and loading such files thorough the day into the access control system, and then manually directing changes in badges to any other databases of the system. Thus, it is desirable to automatically download to an access control system information from an external database, and further to automatically distribute changes affecting access decisions from the central database due to such downloaded information.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved access control system which can automatically download information from an external database to the central database of the access control system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved access control system which can automatically distribute, without manual intervention, security information from a central database to the different parts of the system making access decisions.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved access control system which can send in, a single transmission, security information to multiple access controllers to update the databases of such access controllers.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved access control system which increases the reliability in the delivery of security information to the different parts of the system making access decisions.
Briefly described, the system embodying the present invention automatically downloads transaction data from an external database to a central database and distributes security information automatically from the central database to access controllers of the system in response to changes in or addition to the central database due to the downloaded transaction data from the external database. The transaction data represents changes or additions in employee and/or badge information stored in the external database. The access controllers are each coupled to one or more readers. Each reader reads data from badges and any pin number data entered at a keypad of the reader. The access controllers each make access decisions responsive to access request data from their associated reader(s) for controlling locking mechanisms to doors accessing areas of buildings. The system includes a programmed computer server for reading transaction data from the external database, and a central database storing employee, badge and access level data into which the computer server automatically downloads and maps the read transaction data. Mapping may include changing or assigning information in accordance with the read transaction data, such as access level or badge numbers. The computer server automatically distributes to the access controllers security information, reflecting new or changed data of central database which affects access to the areas, through access control drivers which are each connected to one or more access controllers. Each access control driver formats the security information for receipt by their connected access controllers. Each of the access controllers stores the received security information in a database at the controller, and makes access decisions to areas, responsive to access request data received from the readers coupled to the access controller, in accordance with received security information stored in its database.
Each of the access controllers after receiving the security information from the computer server sends a message, via the access control driver connected to the access controller, to the computer server indicating whether the security information was accepted by the access controller. When the computer server receives a message indicating that the security information was not accepted by the access controller, it stores the security information in a failure log in the central database. The access control driver associated with the access controller periodically resends the security information in the failure log to the access controller which did not accept the security information. The access controller after receiving the resent security information sends a message to the computer server, via the access control driver, indicating whether the resent security information was accepted by the access controller. The computer server upon receiving a message indicating that the resent security information was accepted by the access controller, removes the resent security information from the failure log. Thus, the system increases the reliability that security information sent to the access controllers will be successfully received by the access controllers.
The computer server also can receive an import file having batched transaction data, and download and map each transaction of the batched transmission file into the central database, and then automatically distribute security information responsive to changes in central database affecting access.